Apparatus for conditioning inclosures



\ March 2l, '1933.

L. l.. L-.Ewls APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING INCLOS'URES 'Filed Feb. 23, .1928

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A 7 rok/V5 )C Patented Mar. 2l, l1933 UNITED "STATE-s IaEO LEWIS, ILAINFIELD, NEWJERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO CARRIER ENGINEERING v CORPORATION, F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY I PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING INCLOSURES Application led February 23, 1928. Serial No. 256,258.

'Ventilating and airconditioning systems are commonly employed at the present time for producing in buildings or inclosures, comfortable and healthful atmospheric conditionsor temperature andl humidity conditions which are specially suited to the particular purposes for which the inclosures may be used. Such systems are extensively used, for example, for ventilating and conditioning theaters, auditoriums or otherl 'places where people congregate 1nl Varylng all. times the desired vatmospheric conditions.

The system must be designed to give the proper conditions when the inclosure is filled a or overcrowded, and this frequently results in overcooling or undesirable conditions when the inclosure is only sparsely occupied.

The air conditioning equipment for a high class theater or similar place usuallyinclude's a refrigeratingl machine for dehumidifying the air supplied to the inclosure so as to keep -the relative humidity-in the inclosure down within the desired limits and to cool the inclosure injwarm weather. In moving picture theaters ,and analogous places oi'A assembly which operate more or less continuously throughout a considerable lportion 'of the day and night, it is necessary to run the refrigerating 4machine from the time 'it is started, which may be ten or eleven A; M., noon or two P. M., depending upon the hour of opening, until the theater closes at night, which may be eleven P. M. or flater. Regardless of what time the theater may open, it is almost invariably true that from an hour to an hour and one-'half is required to build up the audience much in excess of twenty to twenty-five percent of the theaters capacity. On the other hand, the'crowds begin to thin' out during the afternoon, say around four oclock, and often by five oclock in the case of the continuous show, the house is probably Y depleted to only about ten percent of its capacity, and between this time and the time when the people commence to arrive for they evening performance, it is still more sparsely occupied. Usually about seven oclock the crowd begins to build up again, often reaching a tremendous overload somewhere around eight or eight thirty P. M.

As above indicated, it is necessary to run the refrigerating machine during the periods when the house is practically unoccupied or only sparsely occupied as well as when it is full or nearly full. This must be done to vdehumidiiy or keep down' the dew point of A70 the conditioned air which is supplied to the inclosure, and-'since in conditioning systems as heretofore designed, it has -lbeen necessary in summer time to deliver some little of this conditioned air of low dew point to the in4 75 closure to cool it and keep the humidity therein down within the desired limits, the inclosure will become overcooled when it is only sparsely occupied unless .heating means of some sort are available.

Ventilating or air conditioning systems are ordinarily equipped with one or more steam heaters for heating the conditioned air to the point necessary to give the Vdesired temperature in the inclosure, but during warm weath- 85 er no artificial heat is necessary except when the inclosure is only sparsely occupied. At other times the heat from the heaters would be objectionable. It is extremely expensive,

and dilicult because'of the human element, to 90 get theoperator to lire up the boiler just to have steam for a short time in themorning and a short time the"`afternoon, when it is necessary to avoid overcooling. It is also difficult for the owner to appreciate the necessity for operating a refrigerating machine to keep the inclosure cool ,and at the same time operate a steam boiler to keep it warm and to run both of these at the same time.

small gas lired boileror a gas red direct used, but while they would be comparatively cheap to install, they are expensive to operate.

Everythingwhich has been considered possible has been attempted in the way of reducing the volume of dehumidified4 or low dew point air supplied to the inclosure with a view to preventing the objectionable overcooling, but notwithstanding s uch eorts, the

overcooling occurs to such an extent that it has been found extremely objectionable and has been al serious argument against the use of systems for cooling theaters in the summer time.

One object of my invention is to provide a means which will not add materially to the cost of-installation of air cooling orl condi, tioning systems, and which will be economical and eicient in operation for preventing the overcooling of the inclosures, and which will avoid the necessity for operating the usual steam boilers of the systems, or for providing and operating separate or special heaters for this purpose. Other objects of the invention are te utilize the heat resulting from the condensing of the refrigerating medium in the refrigerating machine to pren vent the overcooling of the inclosure; also to make provision whereby the condenser water' of the refrigerating machine can be used in a suitable heater, or in the heater ordinarily forming a part of the air conditioning equipment, for providing the heat necessary to prevent overcooling o the inclosure; and also to improve Ventilating and air conditioning methods and systems in the other respects hereinafter described and set forth inv the claims. l

The accompanying drawingillustrates by a diagrammatic View an air conditioning systemembodying my invention.

Referring to the drawing, 1 represents the linclosure to be conditioned or ventilated.y This inclosure may be the auditorium of a theater, one or more rooms of a building, orl

other inclosure. 2 is an air conditioningdevice in which'air is dehumidied orconditioned as to its moisture content, and 3 is a fan for moving air .through the airconditioner and'- discharging the same into thel inclosure .1. The air conditioner 2 may be constructed and arranged in any usual or suitable Way so as to supply conditioned air to the inclosure. As shown, the air conditioner 2 is'provided with an`inlet 4 for fresh air and with a passage 5 through which air may be returned from the inclosure to the intake of the air conditioner so that either fresh air, return air from the inclosure or a mixture of any required proportions of fresh and returnair can be conditioned and delivered to the inclosure.- The airis brought to the` desired dew point in the air conditioner,

-refrigerating medium` and a compressor 9.

The spray`water for the air conditioner 2 is circulated by a ypump 10 which Adraws the water by a pipe 11. from the bottom of the air conditioning chamber and delivers the same by a pipe 12 to the cooler 7 fromzwhich the water is delivered by a pipe 13 to the'spray nozzles 6. Water is employed for condensing y the refrigerati-ng medium ir the condenser 8,

this water entering the condenser through a sup'pl; pipe 15 and leaving thesame through,

a d1sc arge plpe 16.

The apparatus las thus far described is known and may be of the construction illustrated, or -of any other usual or .suitable construction.

In accordance with this invention, the heat resulting from the condensation of the refrigerating medium in the refrigerating machine is utilized through suitable instrumentalities for preventing 'overcooling in the inclosure. A suitable heater or device 20 is furnished for thus utilizing the heat of condensation. A l v Y In. the system illustrated, this heater. is 1o'- cated between the air conditioner 2 and the fan 3 so that the air leaving the conditioner4 passes through and is heated by the heater l20, but the heater `could be 'located at any other suitable point -in thev system and the heater may be of any suitable construction.-` Ordinarily, air conditioning systems include a heater for the dehumidiied or'conditioned air, and the heater 20 may be such usual steam heater, or a separate heater, as maybe desired. As represented in the drawing, 'the heater'20is the usual steam heater and is providedl with steam supply and returnpipes 4- 21 and 22. lFor thepurpose of utilizing the condenser water from the refrigerating machine in the heater`20, two pipes 23 and' 24 may be employed connecting the discharge pipe 16 of the condenser 8 respectively to the inlet and outlet fittings of the heater 20. The' pipes 23 and 24 are shown equipped with valves 25 and 26 respectively," and another valve 27 is shown in .the condenser discharge pipe 16 between the supply and dischargev` pipes-23 and 24 for the heater. If the valve 27 is closed and the two valves 25 and 26 denser will flow through the pipe 23 `to the heater 20, and after passin' through the heater,'will returnthrough t e pipe 24 and discharge through the pipe 16, at the other are opened, the Warm water .leaving the conthrough the heater. Thus, the condenser water can be caused to pass through the heater or to discharge without passing through the heater, as may be desired by appropriate adjustments of the valves 25, 26 and 27.

In order to adapt the same heater 20 to be either heated by steam, as in the usual systems, or to use the condenser water when heat isnecessary only to prevent overcooling, as above explained, the water pipes 23 and 24 may be connected as shown, with the steam supply and discharge pipes 21 and 22 of the heater, suitable three-way valves 29 and 30, or valve means of any other suitable sort, being provided whereby the heater can be connected either with the steam or the water supply and discharge pipes.

In the operation of the system, the air Vmay be reduced to the required dew point in the air conditioner 2 by meansof the cold spray point. The

.- the air conditioner to the inclosure by the from the refrigerating machine, thev spray being controlled or the temperature in the air conditioner being otherwise 'regulated in any of the well known ways for bringing theair in the air conditioner 2 to the desired dew conditioned air is delivered from fan 3. Whenfthere is a sufficient number of people or other source of heat in the inclosure, it is not necessary in warm weather to operate the heater 20 to heat the conditioned air which is delivered to the inclosure, but

. the conditions in the inclosure may be controlled to maintain the desired temperature and relative humidity therein in the usual way, as forv instance, by properly regulating the volume of air withdrawn fromv the inclosure and the volume and dew point of the conditioned air delivered to the inclosure, which conditioned air may be either outside fresh air, return air from the inclosure, or

` appropriately regulated mixtures ofthe out- A trolling valves of the charge pipes,

"side, 'and return air.

-water isv caused lto When, however, there are so few people in the inclosure that the minimuni amount ofl air of low dew point supplied vthereto from the air conditioner 2 will overcool the inclosure` then the condenser flow through the heater 2O by appropriate adjustments of-the conwater supply and disheat from the condenser water will raise the tinperature of 4the conditioned air supplied to the inclosure, suiciently togive the desired temperature and relative humidity in the inclosure. i The condenser controlled, may` be grees, is capable of water, which, properly heated as high as 100 desupplying just about the as above explained,- and thev requisite amount of heat to raise the condi-i tioned air to the temperature necessary to` keep the relative humidity inthe inclosure.

down to the desired maximum and prevent overcooling ofthe inclosure. The temperature of the condenser water leaving the conture. It is simply a matter ofv appropriate regulation of the volume of water passing through the condenser.

- I claim as my invention:

1. In a system for conditioning the atmosphere of-an inclosure,

air through said apparatus and to said inclosure, means including a refrigerating device for lowering the dewpoint of the air passing 'through said apparatus and including a condenser, means for circulating a fluid through said condenser, a heater for heating air leaving said apparatus and moving to said inclosure, and means connected `to saidheater for supplying additional heat thereto',l whereby said heater may be connected selectively either to said last means or in series with the outgoing side 'of said condenser. y

2. In a system for conditioning the atmosphere of an inclosure, means for supplying airto said inclosure, means including a refrig- 'erating device for lowering the dewpoint of. said air which is supplied to said inclosure, said Idevice having a condenser, meansfor passing a cooling fluid through said condenser and including a pair of pipes for conveying said iluid to and from said condenser,

a-'heater having .a pipe for heating the said air 1 supplied tosaid inclosure after its dewpoint has been lowered and before its admission to means including a connec. y

said inclosure, tion from said heater to said pipe conveying fluid from said condenser for diverting selectively any desired amount of fluid leaving 'said condenser through the pipe of said heater, and meansV also connected to said heater pipe for admitting-thereto a separate heating fluid whenever the heat from said condenser fluid is insufficient. y

3. In a system for conditioning the atmosphere of an inclosure, the combination of an air conditioning chamber, means for-circulating air through said chamber to said inclo.

sure, a heater for heating the air leaving said chamber and entering said inclosure, means including a refrigerating device for lowering the dewpoint of' through said chamber, said device having a condenser, means for passing a cooling fluid through said condenser continuously and inthe air as it passes, f

. cluding a pair of pipes for conveying iuid'to and from said condenser, the 'plpe carryin Huid from said condenser havlng a shut-o valve therein, connections between said 'out going fluid pipe, at opposite sides of saidv valve, andthe opposite ends of said heater, whereby when said valve is closed, the fluid leaving said condenser will 'be diverted through said heater, and 'when open said .heater will be unaffectedl by said condenser,

and connections directly to said heater, for

supplying thereto 'a separate heating fluid whenever operation of said he from saidcondenser Vis desired.

4. In a system for conditioning the atmosphere of an inclosure, the combination of an air conditioning chamber, means for circulat- 'ing air throughsaid chamber to said inclosure, a heater for heating the air leaving saidchamber and entering said inclosure, means lincluding a refrigerating device for lowering the dewpoint of the air as it passes throng said chamber, said device having a. condenser means for passing a cooling fluid through said condenser continuously and including a" pair of pipes for conveying liquid to -and from said condenser, the pipe carrying-Huid from said condenser having-a shut-oil valve therein, connectionsbetween said outgoin fluid pipe, at opposite sidesof said valve, an

the opposite ends of said heater, whereby when said valve is closed, ,the iuid leaving said condenser will be diverted through saidheater, and when open said heater will be unv affected by said condenser, valvespin said connections to said -heater,and pipes to saidconneetions `at points between said heater and said valves for supplying heat to the heater separately from the condenser.

LEO L. LEWIS.

ateriseparately 

